Rios was arrested Aug. 30 after an Amarillo Police Department motorcycle officer pulled over a 2008 Ford Expedition he was driving for suspected window tinting violation. During the stop, the officer noticed circumstances that led him to believe there were illegal items in Rios’ vehicle and asked to search it, according to a Drug Enforcement Administration agent’s affidavit.

Rios refused to permit the search, and a Department of Public Safety canine unit was called to the location. The dog then alerted on the odor of a controlled substance in the SUV, authorities said.

Officers searched inside the Expedition and an officer found 14 vacuum-sealed packages of methamphetamine hidden inside a Coleman electric cooler, according to a DEA affidavit filed in the case.

Officers then summoned a DPS Criminal Investigations Division agent and an APD narcotics officer to the scene, the affidavit said, and Rios was advised of his constitutional rights and agreed to speak to law enforcement. He told officers it was his first time transporting narcotics and that he was on his way to his house, authorities said.

The grand jury also indicted Juan Gabriel Mejia on three drug trafficking conspiracy counts and one attempted drug trafficking conspiracy count. Mejia, who is not in federal custody, already faces other federal conspiracy and money laundering charges after he was indicted earlier this year in another case linked to large-scale meth and cocaine trafficking in Amarillo and other cities.

Mejia and Fabian Orlando Ortega of Dallas were indicted on multiple drug-trafficking charges.

One of the indictments alleges the men conspired with Victor Deangelo Brooks, Thomas Tallant, Kitprasong Chanthavong, Rodolfo Alcorta Jr., Reymundo Uriel Haro, Vongsavat Sayasane, Roberto Juan Martinez and others unknown to the grand jury to distribute more than 5 pounds of cocaine between January 2008 and January 2009.

Mejia also was indicted on a money-laundering charge alleging he received about $125,000 in cash from an unknown Mexican national, money authorities said was linked to drug trafficking. Mejia and Ortega also were indicted on drug-trafficking charges of possessing more than 14 pounds of methamphetamine and more than 8 pounds of cocaine.

Another drug-conspiracy indictment alleged the men conspired to distribute more than 10 pounds of cocaine.

Last year, Alcorta was sentenced to serve more than 16 years in federal prison after state troopers discovered methamphetamine in a 2008 traffic stop.

On Sept. 13, 2008, troopers stopped Chanthavong, a co-defendant in the case, for speeding in Donley County. The trooper searched his 2002 Acura MDX and found about 3 pounds of methamphetamine in a hidden compartment after Chanthavong consented to the search, according to court records.

DEA agents interviewed Chanthavong, who said he was going from Dallas to Amarillo, where he lived, according to court documents. Chanthavong told agents a person known as “Root” would pick up the SUV from Chanthavong’s house on Dahlia Street, court documents said.

Under DEA supervision, Chanthavong called Root to pick up the vehicle, and Alcorta showed up and began to drive away with the drugs in the vehicle, court records show. Authorities arrested Alcorta after he left the Dahlia Street house, and he told federal agents he knew drugs were hidden inside the SUV.

DEA agents had wired the SUV with a GPS tracking device less than two months before the stop, court records said. A confidential informant told federal agents the Acura was used to transport large quantities of methamphetamine and cocaine.

Chanthavong was sentenced in May 2010 to more than seven years in prison after he pleaded guilty to methamphetamine trafficking. Brooks, Tallant and Roberto Juan Martinez pleaded guilty to the same charge.

Brooks was sentenced to nine years after he made a partial payment to a DEA informant for about 4.5 pounds of methamphetamine, court records said.

Chanthavong called Tallant on Sept. 13, 2008, to pick up the Acura SUV from the North Park Mall parking lot in Dallas before heading to Amarillo. Tallant received nearly 17 years in prison.

Nearly a month later, federal agents searched an Amarillo home in the 3300 block of Lenwood Drive and found Martinez dismantling a 2001 Chrysler PT Cruiser, a complaint said.

Authorities later found more than 11 pounds of methamphetamine in a compartment above one of the rear tires, court records show. Martinez received a seven-year sentence.

Charges against Haro were dismissed after he cooperated in the investigation. Sayasane was sentenced in 2010 to serve more than 20 years in federal prison on conspiracy and meth distribution charges.

In 2010, Martinez was sentenced to serve seven years in federal prison on meth trafficking and aiding and abetting charges.